Leeds United

Leeds United player transfer deal questioned by journalist

Leeds United had a transfer rationale over the summer that actually seemed to have something of a strand of planning to it – well, looking at the restocking of the youth element at the club it did.

The Under-18 and Under-23 sides had been let to go to rack and ruin under the previous regime of Massimo Cellino. This act didn’t go down well in the eyes of many fans, fans who’d grown accustomed to the club producing talented youngsters who starred for the first team and beyond.

The tactic seemed to revolve around two strands: selecting up-and-coming domestic talent and cherry-picking youngsters from prestigious clubs on the continent. Players such as Hugo Diaz (Deportivo La Coruña), Oriol Rey and Kun Temenuzhkov (Barcelona), Oliver Sarkic (Benfica) and Alex Machuca (Rayo Vallecano) arrived at Thorp Arch.

Another team that was ‘raided’ were Serie A giants Juventus, know as La Vecchia Signori in Italian football. Here the Whites picked up ex-Ajax player Ouasim Bouy. The Dutch/Moroccan, who is represented by super-agent Mino Raiola, signed a contract until June 2021 and was then instantly loaned to Spanish La Liga 2 side Cultural Leonesa.

The Whites have something of a ‘hook-up’ agreement with the Spanish side, especially an arrangement to send players over there that they sign as a means of getting them game time. The thing was, and like Japan star Yosuke Ideguchi, Bouy didn’t receive much time on the field for the struggling Spaniards, and returned to the Whites in January.

Since then? Well it’s been a seeming cloak of anonymity as the youngster seems to have melted into a camouflaged background. Aside from a couple of showings for Carlos Corberan’s Under-23s, nothing. This has led to many raised eyebrows and discussions amongst Leeds United fans on social media – such as the one below.

It is perhaps Phil Hay’s reply to being tagged in the conversation that is of particular note.

Whilst Bouy saw his Juventus career blighted somewhat by injury concerns, and loan deals away from Turin, the sending over of him to Spain was to get him up to speed with match fitness etcetera. That’s the case, he’s obviously at a level where participation in games is more than a viable option – yet no sign of the youngster.

With Leeds United going through something of an injury crisis at the moment, and having no first-choice central defenders left to call on, you’d think that Bouy would be an option. Against Preston North End, in a dismal 3-1 defeat, Leeds had to dip in to the Under-23 stock and partner Paudie O’Connor with Spanish youngster Hugo Diaz as the game petered out for the Whites.

Yet somewhere in the fabric of the club, somewhere lies Ouasim Bouy. He’s almost like a dark tale that you tell your children to scare them at Halloween; is he a footballer or a fantasy? This is a player with, if you take out youth games at Juventus, 92 games at senior level. Whatever he is, wherever in the club he currently lies, Phil Hay is right.

It is, indeed, the “strangest signing.”

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